Save scumming. What is it?

I’m just curious if DDA is currently tied to Pandoran “evolution”. They have at least toned down DDA quite a bit on Rookie mode.

They may have done. I don’t play on Rookie, and I’m currently taking a break from the game until they fix some things.

Doesn’t address Spag’s issue though - some people clearly want to play a ‘perfect’ game with infinite restarts and no casualties. If the DDA is based on casualties/injuries, that means that Spag’s preferred method of play will always result in the difficulty going up after every mission.

Now, the devs may decide that that’s Spag’s lookout and the game was not designed to be played that way - and that’s their prerogative. But from what I’ve read on these forums, he’s not the only one who likes to play that way.

Ultimately, it’s no skin off my nose - Spag’s modus operandi is anathema to me and entirely the opposite of the way I like to play these games (for me the challenge is in taking casualties as they come and managing my losses against near-impossible odds). But as I’ve said many times before, it’s not just about what I want, it’s about what’s good for the community.

As I said (from someone currently playing the game at Rookie & Veteran) one can keep DDA in check without taking casualties. One however needs to accept injuries to do so.

From my understanding DDA is just increasing number of enemies per mission.

Evolution on the other hand is kind of research for aliens and it isn’t tied to individual player performance on the battles. Of course some player actions increase evolution points available to the aliens, but it is not tied to balance of kill/lost ratio.

That said DDA will probably take into account what evolution level aliens have when deploying units on next battle, but it doesn’t infulence it in other way.

In my playthroughs since Leviathan I have noticed the Pandorans will show up with less armor and less powerful weapons after I take repeated losses (injuries). When I complete several “perfect” missions, they come back with more armor and more powerful weapons. I do agree that the number of enemies is also in play with DDA.

And that , in my opinion, is how it should be.

This is, after all, a game about surviving a post-apocalypse against insurmountable odds - and the idea that you could/should be able to do that without suffering a scratch is imho faintly ludicrous.

However, I accept that for this game to grow, Snapshot has to cater for the type of player who sees taking casualties whilst fighting a war as something that shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

Loosing soldier is very painful. Soldiers cost too much in the beginning; veteran soldier is very powerful and you can’t quickly replace him; sometimes you can’t find right class for hire; game has hard time limits, so you don’t have enough time to train soldiers to replace one.
So, save and load is all we need :slight_smile:

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That’s fine for you, and I don’t deny you your right to do that. In fact, I keep calling for Snapshot to adjust the way the DDA works so that you don’t get punished for it (or at the very least, suspend the DDA completely on Easy mode).

I and others, on the other hand, prefer the challenge of trying to survive without altering the result every time it goes against us. It means you have to pick your battles very carefully, and be ready to pull out at a moment’s notice when it looks like the mission is getting too hairy. But for me, it creates a much greater sense of suspense and danger when I know that I can’t just do over if I get it wrong.

Both are equally legitimate ways to enjoy what is, after all, only a game - and the system should be designed to give both styles of play equal weight and merit, rather than punishing your stye in favour of mine, as it does at the moment.

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EXACTLY why I play to NOT loose them… But the flames I get over it is amazing!

Now that’s a steep statement, but who of those who complain about the level of difficulty really play on EASY?

I’m probably going to get trolled for this, but if you’re not playing on Easy - or rather if you’re choosing to play as a Hero or a Legend - then you shouldn’t be whingeing about difficulty, because they’re supposed to be difficult. Hell, Legend is supposed to be damn near impossible - it’s called ‘Insane’ in Mass Effect if I remember rightly :laughing:

However, if you want a game experience that lets you cruise through it without losing any Squaddies and doesn’t ramp up the difficulty curve every time you ace a mission, Easy Difficulty should be designed to give you that experience.

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Maybe because you’re often very offensive?
I also reload or restart missions, not very often but I do, and no one on this forum ever flamed me about that …

This ^^
Probably on veteran, the 2nd difficulty, also a bit more forgiving. Even after the last patch sometimes it get ridiculous hard after solving some missions to good.

I’m trying on hard the last times and it is really harder than veteran. No idea what legend will bring, but at the moment it feels right for me on hard.

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Unfortunately, it is simply the case that even absolute tactics beginners sometimes find it embarrassing to play on EASY. It is then misinterpreted and avoided as a “LOOSER” level of difficulty. However, this behavior is not atypical …

Before I started writing here, I was a pure “reader” for several months. I am also not a native English speaker. I remember that most of those who complained about the level of difficulty played on “Veteran” and some even played on “Hero”.

I am not saying that the complaints had no justification. Strictly speaking, both the player and the enemy side have “unfair” tools that can be frustrating. Against frustration it also helps to try the EASY mode :wink:

yeah your right I am very offensive, I am just a cranky old man…:slight_smile: the lock down is doing my head in now, but I was not very sociable before that either your right! I guess I could work on that…:slight_smile:

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I am playing on rookie… I don’t care if anyone thinks its a “looser” level…:slight_smile: I generally start all new games on easy to get the feel and then work my way up from there. This is however, getting there, it has improved a lot, the acid is still on super stupid right now, I was in a ambush map and had 3 rounds to go my team got splashed and in two round all dead, so I knew it was all over… That is just crazy and not fun. If I see an acid carrier I do everything to make sue it dies before its in range which takes from the tactics somewhat, but those long range acid shooters are the worst, basically make the map unplayable as you can’t get away from it, that needs to stop. I do hope they adjust this in the next patch, the sad part is they KNEW about this acid issue before the last patch and ignored it? Not sure why they did that… anyway we will see…

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I forced to use save and load cause one random shot from acid Chiron can kill half main squad. After that you will be near loosing all campaign. And it’s not my mistake or wrong tactic - just shirty game mechanic.

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I agree, which is why I keep calling for it - and other stupidly OP Panda mechanics to be nerfed: A new look at a fair RB?

As I say, I don’t object to you S&Ring if you want to. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just not the way I personally like to play, is all.

Save scumming is a wonderful thing when you have a game such as PP that will kill you off unfairly.
Never necessary when a game were you die by your own fault is involved, but totally necessary when there are unfair and very silly mechanics in a game that kill the player just for the hell of it. Unfortunately PP has more than it’s fair share of this s***.

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This has hit the nail right on the head!! This IS the only game I “panic” save… Because you can through no fault of your own just fall prey to the psychopathic killing AI and the supper powered acid… Balance that and I would probably never reload during the game unless it crashed.

They need to save this s*** for expert level.